Highlights in the History of a ‘Christian Nation’

In a recent Fox News colloquy, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin explained America’s religious traditions to Bill O’Reilly. Discussing the recent National Day of Prayer, both underscored their belief that America is a “Christian nation,” founded upon Judeo-Christian principles and the Ten Commandments. Speaking of the Founders and the nation’s founding documents, Palin told O’Reilly, “They’re quite clear — that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments.”

But a review of the path blazed by Christians in both the colonial era and the nation’s early life is not so tidy. Christianity, as we know, arrived in the New World with Christopher Columbus, who crucified natives who failed to produce enough gold in rows of thirteen — one for Jesus and each of the disciples. The Spanish conquistadors also introduced the “Requerimiento,” which demanded conversion to Christianity and threatened slavery and death to those who did not. (The Indian converts were enslaved and killed anyway.)

Here are a few more of the highlights of the path blazed by Christians that take a bit of the luster off the myth of America as a “Christian nation.” Most of them probably weren’t in your textbook.